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Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Change for the better

This past week was so beautiful!! :) I had a wonderful birthday with my companion and with many wonderful members. :) We went to lunch with the famiglia Perez (I am sure that she has posted pictures already.) Mamma mia... she makes some reeeeeeal good food! Then we went with S for a gelato.

We finished with some dinner with the famiglia G (another Brazilian member) and headed to Firenze for the night. The next day we had consiglio where I got a bunch of birthday cards. Thank you sooooo much for all of the birthday cards. Especially the one that you made from all of my friends. :) I love hearing from all of these loved ones in my life. Sophie sent me a fantastic birthday card as well.

The day before, we went to Volterra for Pday. Oh my heck... BEST PDAY EVER!!! We went with the sorelle of Montevarchi. Volterra is a beautiful medieval city that is in the middle of the hills of tuscana. :) Also, this is the famous city from Twilight when Edward goes to "kill himself". Hahaha but it really was such a beautiful city. Sorella Bennett bought me earrings made of Alabaster stone from Volterra. :)

This past week we saw MANY miracles!! One of the most tender miracles was when we were teaching the law of chastity to our simpatizzante, L. She has loved almost everything that we have taught her, especially this lesson. Before we taught it, she expressed how she really admires how we wait until after marriage to share intimate relationships. As we were teaching, we talked about how we are all children of God. He loves us so much and does not want us to be selling our beautiful bodies. L loved every second of the lesson and has asked us to come over so that we can try teaching her husband as
well. :)

This weekend we had an amazing lesson with a family from Equador. Miriam is a member for many years but could not find the church here in Italia. She hasn't come for 10 years but still has a burning testimony. Her husband, C, is not a member of the church but has agreed for the first time to sit and listen to the missionaries. When Miriam found out that there was a church here in Pisa, she was beyond joyful!!! When her husband saw how incredibly happy she was, he decided to come as well and visit. :) We taught him on Sunday and he expressed his desire to hopefully be baptized. :)

Funny Story: we had a lesson with B and Michael again. We almost had another African showdown but this time not between them and the gospel. After the lesson, they walked us to the train station. Michael began talking to his friend who was 100% drunk. When his friend saw us, he staggered towards us. We backed up and he took a swipe at Sorella Bennett. She stepped back again but he still tried coming towards her and even grabbed her name tag. Michael shoved him off and was trying to keep him back. (I will explain in more detail on Sunday) Bishop was SOOOO upset!!! He told the man to just try it again so that he could beat him up. Oh man...we are soooo happy to have our African friends. :)

Sorella Bennett and I re-enacting the scene from Twilight :)

We had an amazing conference with Elder Snow and Elder Kearon for the Firenze Zone. One thing that the Area Presidency wants us to focus on is to stay close to the New Converts. We have been asked to do My Family booklets with them. Have you seen these? I was really touched as we listened to the words at this conference. I only have 3 months left. Yesterday was my 15 month mark. As I look back to the past 15 months that I have completed, I stand in awe of how much God has changed me for the better. I only want to serve him with my all and my best. The Gospel is amazing. We have reason to rejoice. :)